


Unwelcome Guests

by GalaxyAqua, garbagecannot



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Another Episode
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bugs & Insects, Gen, not really shippy but tagged just in case
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-26
Updated: 2015-11-26
Packaged: 2018-05-03 10:37:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5287460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalaxyAqua/pseuds/GalaxyAqua, https://archiveofourown.org/users/garbagecannot/pseuds/garbagecannot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In this unforeseeable four-way tangle that is their lives, Jataro always has to take care of the bugs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unwelcome Guests

**Author's Note:**

> @galaxyaqua, from garbage: I hate you why did you drag me into demon children hell screw you I made an account for this stupid I'm telling you  
> @garbagecannot, from galaxy: (◡‿◡✿)..... welcome to hell (◕‿◕✿)

Safe to say, when it comes to their living situation, it’s hardly pretty. Perhaps it is because they’re a bunch of inelegant teenagers shoved under one roof and expected to co-exist. Perhaps it is because they’re of such conflicting interests that everything just manages to get everywhere, and their possessions mingle and fights ensue and it just gets worse.

However, no matter what the case, it is certain that the state of their house was not particularly desirable. Nobody – not Masaru, Kotoko, Jataro or even Nagisa – could object to that.

Granted, Nagisa has definitely tried to keep the household clean enough; but then there’s his innate obsession with _book-collecting_ that overrules all of his previous efforts. Masaru trips over at least one of these book stacks daily (and he’s not even of the clumsy sort!), whilst Kotoko uses them for balancing practice sometimes, and, well, Jataro just kind of stares at them and wonders where the hell they’re going to put all of them (since they’ve long spilled out of Nagisa’s room, which is why the house is such a mess in the first place).

But it would be unfair to say that Nagisa is the only offender in this godforsaken clutter of a household.

Masaru never cleans up after himself, simply because he’s always on his toes and once he gets up, he completely forgets what he was supposed to do (e.g. putting wrappers in the trash, packing up a game, putting his various sports items back into his room where they belong). In fact, he doesn’t even think to pick up the books once he’s knocked them over, and his definition of ‘cleaning his room’ equates to throwing things half-hazardously into the closet, only for them to spill out the next time someone even so much as touches the handle.

Kotoko is no better, only she has the gall to try and _decorate_ the mess instead of cleaning it up, and if she spent half as much time tidying up as she did sticking bows and stickers onto every touchable surface, then maybe their living quarters would somewhat resemble an actual livable space. It’s not as if she doesn’t know how, either, but Kotoko is adamant that she will not do it unless someone volunteers to do it with her – and, in a house of teenagers who couldn’t care less, that would be much too big of an ask.

Speaking of people who couldn’t care less, Jataro simply lets the mess evolve, and does his best to step around the junk, but makes no move to pick it up either. His contributions include washing the dishes – and _only_ washing the dishes; but it’s a move he has chosen to make only because he needs some of those dishes to produce art with, and after that one disaster when someone (not naming names) accidentally took a sip of paint water instead of a legitimate drink, it was decided that he might as well; if only to prevent such events from occurring anytime in the future.

However, one particular oversight had been made by the four when it comes to creating a mess.

The _insects_ that such a mess would attract.

And it all starts with an ant line in the kitchen, and a runaway cockroach.

* * *

“It was _right there!_ ” Masaru screeches from on top of the bench, pointing towards an empty spot on the kitchen tiles.

“No, it wasn’t, you coward!” Kotoko bites back, though she herself had taken position in the sink, her skirt overflowing from the sides as she brings her knees to her chest. “It came out from under the oven!”

“It fell from the ceiling!” He argues. “It was – it was like massive and everything and oh God it’s going to kill us –”

“Don’t jinx it!” She squeals in response, shaking her head from side-to-side. “We don’t know where it is; how do you know it’s not going to try a sneak attack?”

“How _do_ we know?! How are we going to get out of here alive?!”

“I-I don’t know! Call Nagisa, maybe? He’s next door, right?!” She hits the wall beside her, hard. “Nagisa! Help!”

“There’s no way Nagisa can do anything to this thing – ”

“It’s worth a shot, right?!”

It is at this moment of heightened panic that Nagisa appears at the entrance of the kitchen, looking slightly annoyed; reading glasses sliding off the bridge of his nose, and he pushes them back up as he asks, “What on earth are you guys doing?”

Kotoko curls into herself, tucking her slender form tighter into the abnormally large sink (it was originally a double, but somehow or another, the divider got destroyed, ask Jataro, nobody else knows how it happened), and points to the oven. “A killer cockroach just came out of there!”

“No! It fell from the ceiling!” Masaru protests, shuffling to move to the center of the bench, as if the edges were too dangerous for him to be sitting on.

“Does it matter?” Nagisa sighs. “You can’t see it anymore. What do you expect me to do about it?”

“Fear for our lives, maybe?!” Masaru is yelling even though there isn’t any need to be, and maybe it’s because of this that Kotoko starts yelling too.

“Nagisa! Don’t you care that we’re going to be eaten by the big, dangerous creepy crawly?!”

Nagisa deadpans, and crosses his arms. “Well, if that’s all, I’m going to head back to my room.” There’s a simultaneous wailing that begins right after the words leave his mouth and Nagisa sighs. “Alright. I’ll get bug spray. Stay alive, or whatever.”

Kotoko and Masaru nod fearfully, and let him go. Minutes pass, and then, after a prolonged silence, they share a terrified look.

“Did the cockroach get Nagisa…?” Kotoko whispers – a stark contrast to the yelling that was going on before.

“It b-better not have! Or else… or else I’ll…!” Masaru balls up his fists but doesn’t leave the middle of the kitchen bench, so any show of real bravery is dashed. Something shatters in the general direction of Nagisa’s room and both of them gulp audibly. They exchange a quick glance, broken when Masaru notices a line of ants creeping into the kitchen from the hall. He glares.  

Kotoko, now sufficiently worried, taps quietly on the wall, and calls, “Nagisa?”

His reply is instant. “What?”

“Did you… did you just abandon us?”

“The flower pot spilled over.” He answers through the wall, as though that was enough of an explanation.

“S-so? If it’s blocking the doorway, you can just step over it, right?”

“It’s…”

“Did a thousand killer cockroaches come crawling out of it!?” Masaru asks, cupping his hands around his mouth, voice echoing throughout the house. He’s still glaring at the ants, but they pay him no mind. He throws a tissue box at them, and they scatter. Ah, yes. Victory for Lord Masaru Daimon once again.

“Well, no, but…” Nagisa’s voice seems to get quieter and quieter by the minute.

“But…?”

“There’s a… uh. Dirt. And there’s lots of worms. In the carpet.”

Kotoko blanches. “Ew?” Then she remembers the boy’s hatred (fear?) towards such creatures. “Okay. Point taken. You still gotta save us though! When – when you know! The worms wiggle away?”

“In any case,” Nagisa clears his throat, voice muffled by the wall. “I’m not leaving this room until they do.”

“Nagisa,” Masaru complains, “You have to save us though!”

“At least your enemy is invisible. I’m not going anywhere near the door. Save yourselves.”

Masaru groans, bringing his hands to his head, and pulling his knees closer to his chest. Reluctantly, he meets Kotoko’s eyes across the kitchen and asks, “Is Jataro home?”

Kotoko grimaces, looking around. “No… he went out…”

“He’s coming back now.” Nagisa adds in, through the wall.

“Did he text you?” Kotoko shifts in the sink. “You _know_ when he says he’s coming back, he’s totally going to detour and go out and, I don’t know! Pick daisies or something! He always takes way too long! There’s no hope!”

“I said it was an emergency.”

She sighs, hanging her head even though he couldn’t see it. “I hate you because I know that’ll work.”

“I don’t wanna be saved by Jataro,” Masaru sticks out his tongue, but at that moment, a dark shape zooms across the kitchen floor and both Masaru and Kotoko scream.

“There it is!” He shrinks, watching the blob make its creepy tak-tak noise as it sped around. He shudders.

“Eek! Do something about it!” Kotoko throws a sponge at it, which misses by a mile.

“Why me?! _You_ do something about it!”

“No way! I’m not going near it! It’s huge! Like in the way elephants’ ears are huge! And blue whales are super duper huge!”

“KOTOKO! THERE’S ANOTHER ONE!”

“KYAA, WHY? WHAT DID WE DO TO DESERVE THIS?!”

Miraculously, the click of the door unlocking is still heard amidst the screaming and the throwing of things – all of which the cockroach (two now!) are sneakily steering clear of.

“JATARO!” Kotoko shrieks, the moment the artist appears at the kitchen entrance looking thoroughly exasperated already. “SAVE US! YOU’RE OUR ONLY HOPE!”

“It’s a cockroach.”

“IT’S A KILLING MACHINE!” Masaru adds, half for effect and half to fuel Kotoko’s hysteria, pointing at all the projectiles laying on the ground, making the kitchen look even more cluttered than before. “LOOK AT HOW IT DODGES OUR SKILFUL ATTACKS!”  

“It’s a cockroach.” Jataro repeats. He bends down, and watches the insects scuttle about, completely unfazed. Then he looks up at Masaru, and then at Kotoko, with bright, imploring eyes. “What do you want me to do about it? Eat it?”

“Eww, no! No, no, don’t you dare!” Kotoko immediately recoils, repositioning herself in the sink. “What the heck is wrong with you? No!”

Jataro picks one of them up. Kotoko screams. He smiles, but then sticks the squirming thing on a roll of tape sticking out of his backpack. She glares at him, shaking her head disapprovingly.

“Gross,” Masaru agrees, but he’s less on the edge now, and he doesn’t quite know why. It must be his great hero powers returning to aid him now that he’s got an audience to show off too. Tentatively, he sticks a foot out, and off the bench. “Never fear, because Masaru Daimon is here! I will defeat the remaining enemy with one hit!”  

Jataro picks the other one up with ease, and holds it out for him. “I-it’s yours, if you want it. Just pretend it’s my face or something… then you’ll definitely be able to get rid of it easily.”

Masaru clenches his teeth. He changed his mind. He does not want to defeat it anymore. It’s moving, and it’s staring at him and it’s creepy as heck and he hates bugs, oh God, it’s coming towards him, he’s gonna die and – he knocks Jataro’s hands out of the way. “The uh, the great hero Masaru Daimon bestows this duty upon you, because he is a great leader! Hahaha! Yes, it’s – it’s all yours, my minion! Hahaha!”  

Jataro raises an eyebrow but shrugs anyway, sticking the second bug onto the roll of tape and deliberately turning so that the tape roll faced the redhead; Masaru could feel himself turning green. “What the hell!? If you’ve got them captured, then do something about it!”

“Take them out of the house!” Kotoko demands, slowly straightening and swinging her legs over the counter. She jumps carefully down onto the floor, and smooths out her skirt, smiling widely as if nothing had transpired, and as if she hadn’t been screaming about bugs a moment prior.

Masaru’s recovery time is just as quick, and he stands next to her, staring Jataro down. Unfortunately, he is not that much taller than the artist – nor is he intimidating, despite what he likes to believe – so Jataro just shrugs again and starts walking back out. Before he exits, he says over his shoulder, “I didn’t know you guys were afraid of bugs…” Then he grins cheekily, and before Masaru or Kotoko can say anything, he’s running out of the room.

“He’s not gonna.” Kotoko states, as the sounds of a vacuum (they owned one of those?) start to fill the house.

Even though it’s not a complete sentence, Masaru knows what she’s trying to say. And he knows, that knowing Jataro, “Oh, he’s _gonna_.”

If it was for the sake of getting them to ‘hate him again’, the redhead is pretty darn sure that Jataro would exploit their unfortunate weakness, and he’d really, really need to sort that out before Jataro unleashed bug hell on their house and Masaru had nightmares for days. Not that he actually would. Because he’s the hero, and he’s not afraid of bugs, nope, that’s definitely not it.

Kotoko seemed to have the same idea. She cradles her head dramatically, and cries, “Tell Nagisa to tell him not to, please…”

“He’s not going to.” Their heads snap up, to look at Nagisa, who’s leaning coolly in the doorway. Just as if he weren’t confined to his room because of a few worms in the carpet. Kotoko groans internally, because only _Nagisa_ can pull off this image of cool, whether he acknowledges it or not.

“You’re my savior, my angel,” Masaru croons teasingly, and the taller boy scowls, inching away from what he knows is an incoming hug. He also knows that he can’t avoid it, so he stands stiffly and just takes it, letting the redhead cling onto him with a wide grin.

Kotoko just shakes her head and mutters, “You’ve tamed even the worst of them, I see.”

“What was that, Kotoko?!” Masaru jets out.

“I was talking about Jataro!” She amends quickly, though she meant it at both of them. “He’s whipped as hell.”

“I’m gonna put spiders in your bed,” Jataro responds from the other room.

“Don’t you dare…! I’m gonna… I don’t know yet, but you better be scared!”  

Perhaps to stop all arguments before they escalated too far, Nagisa speaks up, finally prying himself from Masaru’s octopus grip. “Why is there a smidge of squished ants over here?”

“THE ENEMY!” Masaru roars, and boats the other boy out of the room, leaving Kotoko to bring a palm to her face, and Jataro to (probably) dispose of the roaches, unless he’s decided he wants revenge.

* * *

 

Unfortunately, that was not the end just yet.

The bug struggle continues, and they seem to fall into a pattern. Someone finds a bug, they panic, everyone else starts panicking, and they have to call Jataro to help because he's the only one not scared of (despite how the others deny it or try to brush it off) the insects that take refuge in their jumbled mess of a house.

It is because of this that it comes to no surprise that Jataro gets woken up in the middle of the night for the nth time by what sounds like a shelf falling over and quite potentially a mop being broken in half. He’s groggy when he sits up so he tries to rub the sleep from his eyes and swears that if there is no good explanation for this ruckus, then the culprit better start running.

Of course, when he steps outside his room, bare feet touching the cool wood of the hallway, all his sleepiness fades away. And by the way, the culprit – or culprits – are already running.

Masaru bowls him over, in his mad dash to get wherever he’s going – and Jataro just wonders why his housemate didn’t bother to turn on the lights – but he is swiftly followed by Kotoko (who politely steps over him) and Nagisa (who helps him up again), as they travel down the hallway towards the lounge.

“What’s going on?” He asks, when he’s beckoned to follow. He does so, albeit slowly, because he doesn’t get what the fuss is about and he hates running anyway.

“Spider infestation!” Masaru announces with wide eyes and waving hands, and the very mention of them has Kotoko scrunching up her nose and shaking her head from side-to-side.

“It can’t be that bad…” Jataro says amidst a yawn, ignoring the way that the trio besides him seemed to shudder involuntarily at the memory. Jataro just shrugs.

Masaru grabs hold of both sides of his head and knock their foreheads together, “No, listen, listen. There’s an army. And they’re coming for us.”

“Where are you even gonna run to, then?” He asks, playing along for the time being. “It’s not like there’s anywhere you can go. Even if you keep running and running, one day you’ll end up right where you started. Because the world is round, remember?”

“That’s beside the point!”

“Do you have a better solution?” Nagisa cuts in, ever the mediator when it comes to bringing a halt to pointless arguments.

“Just… just let me take care of it. It’s no problem… whatever…” the artist says reluctantly, already trudging back the way they came.

“Jataro, no,” Kotoko whispers, extending an arm out. “Don’t go. You’re gonna die.”

“It’s not like it really matters,” He tips his head to the side, drawing out his words. “I’m about 90% sure you’re all freaking out over nothing anyway…”

And he’s right. Because they follow him back (albeit fearfully), and all Jataro sees of their ‘army’, is a cluster of spider webs in the corner of the lounge room. _Without any spiders_.

He looks back at each of them in turn, but their faces have gone pale.

“I-it was right there,” Kotoko points to the biggest web. “It was… I swear!”

“Um, if you didn’t turn the lights on… how can you even be sure of something like that?”

“N-no, I saw it too!” Masaru chips in, suddenly clutching onto Kotoko and Nagisa’s sleeves in an uncharacteristic show of cowardice. “It was right there! A whole army of spiders! And all their gangly legs and googly eyes!”

Nagisa nods, not bothering to actually say anything about it as his eyes dart around the room in search.

“There!” Kotoko grabs hold of Jataro’s shoulder, pointing towards the window sill. He nudges her off, and stares.

“That’s just a daddy longlegs.”

“It’s going to kill us.”

Jataro opens the window, and lets the spider crawl out. Then he turns to look at the trio again.

“Are we done yet…? Y’know, the only reason why it would want to hurt you is because you hurt its feelings. Shame on you guys…”

They say nothing, and he hopes it’s because they all feel guilty about it. Masaru coughs.

“Hey, uh… Jataro?” He begins awkwardly.

“What?”

“Can spiders… you know… jump?”

Jataro’s gaze falls on Nagisa, silently goading the taller male to answer the question. Nagisa looks affronted.

“… yes. Some species are known for their jumping abilities, and others can even be thought to float – though that is due to their hanging from their own silk.” He finally answers, and the room seems to suddenly get chillier.

“Like Spiderman.” Kotoko supplies helpfully.

“Now is not the time.” Nagisa says, as they seem to all huddle closer together. Well, Jataro doesn’t really care, but they’ve got too tight of a grip on him to let him escape now.

“It’s never the time with you.” Kotoko tries to tease, to ease the tension, but it doesn’t work.

Masaru gives them a reality check: “There’s an army of jumping spiders in our living room.”

“Shut up!” Kotoko drops to a stage-whisper. “Don’t say it out loud! They’ll hear you!”

“Spiders don’t have feelings!”

“Jataro just said that they did!”

“Shhhh,” Jataro says, knowing already how to get them to shut up. “They’re coming…”

It works, and while the others are too busy being paranoid, he shuffles out of the circle and keeps his eyes trained on the tiny cluster of spiders that he’s spotted. Cluster being used sparingly. There’s only two.

They don’t move a bit when he approaches, so he manages to easily get them onto his hands and once again directs them towards the window where he lets them out. He closes the window after that, deciding that if there were any more bugs, they could deal with them later, and perhaps he’d have to somehow train his housemates to learn to tolerate bugs – or at the very least, clean up their mess. Seriously.

“Better?” He asks, clapping his hands together as he turns back to look at the trio who no longer look like they want to dig a hole and jump into it. “You know I can only do this so many times… it’s not that I mind, or anything, but… does this really have to be that big of a problem? I mean if you can deal with me, you can probably handle a few bugs and stuff, right…?”

There’s a resounding groan.

“Absolutely not,” Kotoko decides, and crosses her arms with a huff. “You’re now designated bug hunter, and you’re not getting out of it!”

“What she said!” Masaru is quick to agree, crossing his arms as well and trying (and failing) to look intimidating once more.

Nagisa just sighs. “There’s got to be a better way to deal with this.”

Jataro looks pointedly at the decorated clutter, lit only by the light of the moon shining through the window. “Well…”

Masaru scrunches up his nose, receiving the message loud and clear. “Cleaning? Do we have to? That’s dumb!”

“Would you prefer to clean or to live with bugs everywhere?” Jataro raises a point, shuffling his feet. “Personally, I don’t care either way, because none of them can stand paint thinner, so they don’t bother me… not that they would have in the first place, ehehe…”

“Tomorrow morning we’re throwing out all the junk.” Nagisa says with finality, despite Kotoko’s frown and Masaru’s whining. “Keep whatever you need in your room, but if it comes out here and it’s not important, it’s getting thrown out.”

Masaru groans. “You’re not the boss of me!”

“Nobody’s going to help you if you get invaded.”

“So what? I can handle them! Don’t underestimate the great Masaru Daimon!”

“Just do it,” Kotoko breathes, slapping him in the shoulder. “If we can stop those gross little nasties from ever coming back…”

“… then we will be free forever!” Upon finishing Kotoko’s sentence, the redhead suddenly brightens. “That’s a brilliant idea! Why didn’t I think of that before!?”

“You’re an idiot,” Nagisa mutters under his breath.

Jataro shrugs, nonchalant. He’s glad they’ve (more or less) sorted it out. But it’s late, and he’s tired. “Can we go to sleep now?”

“May as well.” Nagisa shrugs also, not bothering to look at the time. It was already late, so there’s no point.

“Good night,” Kotoko chirps, all too eager to return to her room.

“Sleep tight,” Masaru yawns, directing the sentence to everyone, including himself.

Before they all enter their rooms, Jataro looks down the hallway and calls softly, “Don’t let the bedbugs bite.” He snickers to himself when he notices his friends stiffening, and flees into his room, happy to let them dwell on that thought until tomorrow.


End file.
